A Nashville family is suing Cox Media and other defendants after they posted altered images of their son with Down syndrome with descriptions that read "Retarded News" and other "offensive" mischaracterizations.

Pamela and Bernard Holland are parents of Adam, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome at birth. The suit, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, claims the the Hollands were shocked to learn that an image of Adam taken in July 2004, when he was 17, was used for commercial use with "defamatory" descriptions, the Hollands' lawsuit states.

Pamela Holland declined to comment to ABC News on the suit.

In the original photo, Adam is holding a sketch he created while attending an art class at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center in Nashville. But a radio station in Tampa, Fla., that is owned by Cox Media Group, WHTP-FM, used the image on its website in which Adam holds a sign that reads "Retarded News."

The lawsuit does not describe how the radio station obtained the image.

Last summer, the group "Spread the Word to End the Word," which campaigns to end the use of the word "retard" to describe people with mental disabilities, contacted the radio station about the photo.

The program director of the radio station wrote an e-mail to the campaign, apologizing for the use of the photo by "The Cowhead Show."

"The segment 'Retarded News' is designed to highlight odd stories that are seemingly always in the news," according to the email that was included in the court papers.

"These stories are NOT about disabled individuals. However, in our investigation, we noted the picture that he was using did denote a person with Down syndrome," the program director wrote.

Is it just me or can I see that photo being turned into a meme with a different person changing what that paper he is holding up says.

My feelings? Yes, it's terribly tasteless, but also terribly naive of the parents to not assume this would happen. It takes 2 existing meme's ("Count to potato" and "insert text onto holding sign"). 4chaneriffic

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My feelings? Yes, it's terribly tasteless, but also terribly naive of the parents to not assume this would happen. It takes 2 existing meme's ("Count to potato" and "insert text onto holding sign"). 4chaneriffic

HA! That was great.

On another note, because they sued and made this a big deal, isn't his being seen more than if they hadn't sued?

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I just can't believe someone would even think something like this is acceptable.

Then you are as naive as the parents.

Please, don't take me as cold or out of context. I'm not saying what they did was right. I am saying "I can fully believe this happened and wouldn't have posted the photo in the first place, I've been to 4chan and I know how low the Internet can stoop"